Before the NFL in Arizona, before the Cardinals' years of losing that finally ended, only to have the franchise struggling yet again at present, there was the Arizona Wranglers and Outlaws of the USFL in the mid-1980s.
↵The Wranglers were part of the first group of teams in the USFL in 1983 and finished 4-14 in Year One. They played in the league championship game the following year but lost.
↵Defensive back Frank Minnifield, who would go on to greater fame with the Cleveland Browns later in the 1980s, was a Wrangler in 1984. He said recently on the Jim Rome radio show that he told his agent he was tired of playing in cold weather and wanted sunshine and warmth, so it was off to Tempe.
↵In 1985 the Wranglers merged with the Oklahoma Outlaws and became the Arizona Outlaws.
↵
Legendary ASU coach Frank Kush was hired to coach the Outlaws, which he did for one season.
↵